Through the Seasons

Layer upon layer of thick oil paints slathered onto the canvas and etched into landscapes charged with energy—these are the paintings of plein air artist Lynn Boggess. He works solely with palette knives and trowels in his wet-on-wet technique, which gives him the freedom to capture the raw energy of nature as he perceives it, as opposed to getting wrapped up in the unnecessary details.

Boggess’ are often large-scale, measuring 40, 50 and sometimes even 80 inches across, and he’ll bring these massive canvases out into the field to paint. “I’m really not trying to solve too many artistic problems while I’m out there. I’m just trying to react to what I’m seeing as quickly as I can because then you get the intuitive, the spontaneous,” says Boggess. “I’m not trying to make a painting while I’m out there, I’m trying to record an experience in paint.” Once he’s captured the soul of the scene, he goes back to his studio to refine it.

“I grew up painting with mostly watercolors,” he says. The artist’s work—which are all named after dates on the calendar that represent the essence of the work— are heavily textured with paint that seems to leap off the canvas. There’s a wildness to his paintings, and they call to our senses of sight and touch, much in the same way that nature does. Realizing that watercolors were never going to achieve the effect he wanted, he began working with thicker and thicker paints. Boggess explains that it was happenstance when he went out for a plein air study and started smearing the paint around in what eventually developed into his current style. Boggess says, “It wasn’t a real strategy I started off with. I got marginal results for a long time, but I knew something was there. I knew the thickness of the paint was an important element to the painting...The medium is a message and that started to connect with me.”

The artist finds joy in simply observing the natural world. His artistic aim is to capture that direct observation as best he can. An upcoming show at Principle

Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, showcases new works that represent all of the seasonal shifts in Boggess’ home state of West Virginia.

“Lynn Boggess skillfully slathers on and carves through dollops of oil paint with trowels and palette knives to creative his mesmerizing landscapes,” says Principle Gallery director Clint Mansell. “His sense of design, composition and balance all inspire great abstract sensibility while straddling the line of abstraction and realism.”

The exhibition opens April 17 with an opening reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in which the artist will be present. Works will be on view through May 12.